284 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. IX. 
pari, or " Place of Cliffs." Soon after this announce- 
ment, twenty or thirty crowded canoes, closely touching 
each other, glided in silence round the point ; and as 
they came full in sight, discharged their fire-arms in a 
grand volley, which was answered from the schooner 
and the shore. They continued to advance in this 
formal manner until near the vessel, when JEJ Kuru's 
canoe came alongside, and the others pulled to the north 
bank, where they soon formed a temporary encamp- 
ment on the fern-covered level. There were now about 
seven hundred natives assembled in the immediate 
neighbourhood ; and JE Kuru told me that all were 
here who could possibly be collected, and that we 
might proceed to business. 
After several discussions at the different villages 
and on board the schooner, at which I explained, 
through the interpreter, the whole force and meaning 
of the transaction which was about to be made, I in- 
vited E Kuru to assemble them all at one place. This 
was done at the fishing-village at which I had for- 
merly seen the people from TJ^ahiparl. On a bright 
sunny day, I landed there from the schooner, and 
found a truly imposing audience assembled. In a 
small court-yard of the village all the superior chiefs, 
to the number of 20 or 30, were sitting on the ground 
dressed in their best mats and feathers, with all their 
green-stone clubs and taiaha shown off to the best ad- 
vantage. The roofs of the adjoining huts, the fences, 
the fish-racks, were bending under the weight of 
crowds of inferior natives, who sought for a peep at 
the conference. The rest of the assembled hundreds 
were contented to sit or stand so as to hear the ex- 
pected speeches. Among the assembly were some of 
the wildest natives I had yet seen. Most of them were 
stout and muscular, more than half of them nearly 
